Raquel Byrnes (2 page)

“That’s…thank you.” I took the paper and folded it slowly, my eyes on the empty vase. One night…and then what? Why did I always leap without looking? Still, it’s not like there was anything left for me back home in San Diego. Not after the trial. Mrs. Tuttle moved, and I realized she’d been talking.

“You must understand, Ms. Ryan, we need a nurse, not a college student, to care for Mr. Hale. He’s quite advanced in age and needs an experienced caregiver.”

“I graduated, Mrs. Tuttle,” I murmured. “I’m twenty-four.”

She paused to purse her lips at me before continuing. “Nevertheless, we need someone with experience.”

“But the job notice said that the position was for a companion with light caregiving duties. In fact, it specifically asked for someone familiar with alternative medicines. That is what I do. Natural remedies for minor illnesses, the ad was specific.”

“Davenport Hale is a strong-willed man and he needs someone that is…” Mrs. Tuttle reached out. “Your coat, please.”

I slipped it off, handing it to her.

“I was able to convince him to put enough duties to attract an actual nurse, and that is who I hired. I don’t quite know what went awry with the post, but I’ll call the service in the morning.”

I glanced around the interior of the old house. My gaze stopped on the mounted head of a deer, its glassy stare vacant and accusing at the same time. Shuddering, I folded my arms across my chest and tried to force my exhausted mind to concentrate on Mrs. Tuttle’s words.

“So you see, it’s just not possible.” She finished, and I realized I’d lost track of what she was saying again.

I forced a smile and shrugged. It seemed to be the right response because she nodded back.

“Thank you for letting me stay the night. I’d probably crash out there in the fog.”

“That’s not fog, dear. Back in London, now
that
is fog. This is just enthusiastic dew.” Mrs. Tuttle turned to hang the coat. “Leave your bag. Mr. O’Shay will bring it up for you. I don’t need anyone taking a fall down the stairs on top of everything else that’s happening.”

I followed her up the carpeted steps. Reaching out, I ran a palm along the smooth bannister and wondered if Mrs. Tuttle was referring to my own unfortunate mix-up or something else that was going wrong. We walked along a hall at the top of the stairs, down a dark corridor, and up a second set of narrow wood steps to the third floor. The servant’s quarters, roughly the size of my walk-in closet back home, seemed bare and lonely.

“The sheets are clean, and the bathroom is down the hall,” Mrs. Tuttle said. “I’ll trust you won’t wander?”

The question caught me off guard.

“Wander?”

“You’ll remain in your room, Ms. Ryan. That is a condition of your stay here.”

“OK…” I wrinkled my brow, confused. “Why?”

“Because you must,” Mrs. Tuttle snapped. “The lights are unreliable and the carpets are frayed. We wouldn’t want you to take a tumble.”

I glanced at the smooth wood floor of the corridor but nodded.

“I will stay in my room.”

Mrs. Tuttle nodded curtly and pulled the door shut. Her footsteps receded leaving me standing in the small chamber listening to the creaks and settling sounds of the old house. Mrs. Tuttle’s abrasive manner did little to calm my thoughts.

I dropped my purse on the bed and looked around. A wrought iron twin bed, nightstand, and an empty book case were all that furnished the room. Thin white curtains covered a shuttered, crescent-shaped window over the bookcase. They rustled softly as wind forced itself through a crack in the glass making a low whistle.

Tired, I sat on the bed, arms around my knees, and fought back tears. Unsettled as this old mansion made me feel, come morning I had nowhere to go and just a bit of money left. Biting back the frustration, I hugged myself tighter, resolving to be strong. Still, in the ache of my heart, I wondered.

I did what You asked, Lord, and lost everything. How could You let that happen? How am I supposed to have faith when it feels like You abandoned me right when I needed You most?

Suddenly, waves of sorrow and shame I’d fought so hard to quell washed over me, and I flashed on my day at the church. The feel of white satin under my hands, the bouquet clasped to my sobbing chest as my would-be sister-in-law led me from the vestibule. He wasn’t coming. He didn’t want me anymore.

And now this. I’d summoned all my courage to travel to these wet and cold woods for what? To be rejected all over again. To be not good enough once more? I had to get out of here. I couldn’t bear to feel their eyes on me in the morning, looks of pity that I’d grown to dread. Shaking my head, I grabbed my purse and yanked open the door. Walking quickly along the corridor, down the steps, and back to the front door, I moved as silently as I could.

Pushing through the double wood doors, I dragged the suitcase behind me. In my hurry, I stumbled down the stone steps, nearly losing my footing as the oversized case tumbled, coming to rest near the front tire.

I fought with the suitcase, shoving it into the back seat with ragged pleas for its cooperation on my trembling lips. I climbed into the driver’s seat, slammed the car door, and tried with shaking hands to start the car. It coughed, then revved. The front door cracked open and Mr. O’Shay stared out at me with a puzzled look.

“Go, just go,” I sobbed.

Pulling away, I took the turn around the driveway way too wide, and ran over some bushes as the car barreled back down the road towards the iron gate. Eyes blurry with tears, I didn’t react to the headlights that burst suddenly from the thick mist. A horn blared as I swerved. The wheel jerked from my hands, and I veered off the path. The car rattled and bounced down the embankment’s uneven ground. A large tree jumped out of the fog right in front of me. I screamed as the car hit it with a jarring blow, and my jaw snapped shut as my head hit the steering wheel. Everything stopped.

Moaning, I felt the bump on my forehead. Pain flashed behind my eyes, and I gasped with the force of it. Unclasping the seatbelt, I stumbled from the car, groping blindly in the dark fog.

“What were you thinking?” a man’s voice, low and tense, called out from the fog. “You were speeding.”

Confused, I heard movement, and someone scrambling down the embankment.

“Are you OK?” the man shouted.

I couldn’t tell the direction from which it came, and I turned in a circle. A wave of dizziness made my stomach lurch. I staggered for the car.

“My head,” I croaked. “I hit—”

The ground tilted. My head spun. I was falling. Strong arms snatched me before I hit the ground.

“Whoa,” the man said, concern creeping into his voice. “You shouldn’t try to walk ’til we get help.”

I glanced up. Framed in the glow of the headlight, a man with piercing blue eyes and light hair looked down at me, his handsome face etched with a thin scar that ran the length of his jaw. It made him all the more magnetic. I smiled at him, my thoughts tumbling together; I thought he was old. How did he get that scar?

“I came to take care of you, Mr. Hale.” My words sounded muffled to me; far away.

“Take care of me?” His blond hair, backlit by the headlight, made a halo around him. “You’re hurt. Be still.”

Sudden clarity rang through my mind at his mention of injury, and I tried to stand. “I’m fine, Mr. Hale.” I tried to wiggle free of his hold, but he held fast.

“You don’t look fine.” His eyes narrowed. Sounding gruff, almost irritated, he bent and lifted me in his arms and carried me up to the road.

“This is unnecessary,” I protested, but my head spun again, and I rested my cheek against his chest as he climbed. Warm and solid, he smelled like grass and sunshine. When he set me on my feet, I glanced back down the embankment at the sedan’s off-kilter lights, worry gripping me again. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Hale, really. I’ll pay for the damage and for the bushes, too.”

He opened his car door, and the interior light cast his face in shadows. My heart thrummed, a flush creeping up my neck under his intense gaze.

“I’m not Davenport Hale,” he said. “I’m his son, Simon.”

A far away buzzing sounded in my ears. I shook my head, trying to clear it. The movement sent a fresh stab of pain flashing across my vision.

Simon reached for me.

“I’m…” I didn’t get the rest out before the world grayed and blinked out.

2

Voices, harsh and urgent, pulled me from a fitful dream. I awoke thrashing in the bed with a sob tearing from my dry throat. Panting, I blinked away the remnants of my nightmare and scanned the unfamiliar room, heart racing. An argument floated on the cool wind blowing through the open window. I couldn’t make out the words, but the tones were unmistakable. Anger. Frustration. Pleading.

I wasn’t in the servants’ quarters. I frowned, and the movement sent a spark of pain tearing across my temple. I hissed, felt for the bump on my forehead, and discovered a bandage. It all flashed back—the fog, the crash, and Simon’s achingly handsome face staring down at me. I squeezed my eyes shut. I’d made a complete fool of myself. Unwilling to look helpless, or be pitied, I’d panicked and made things worse.

I swung legs over the bed and let my eyes adjust before standing and steadying myself with a hand to the headboard.

Done in blue and cream silks, the bed was dark, canopied, and massive. Across the room, sheer curtains billowed away from open French doors like lazy wisps of smoke. It was daylight, and from the angle of the sun, afternoon or later.

Padding across the wood floor and throw rug, I sidled next to the window looking down into the yard. Mrs. Tuttle stood near the river-rock fence. Knee high, it ran the length of the circular driveway. She was talking to someone, a person sitting on the fence, but the branches of the trees obscured the face and body. Tuttle punctuated her words with a paper in her hand, flapping it and gesturing with angry pokes.

Wind rattled the chimes on the balcony, their tinkling frantic with the sudden gust. Tuttle looked up toward my window, and I ducked from view, heart ramming. Jagged spikes of color danced behind my eyes, and I squinted against the headache my movement brought on.

I didn’t want them to know I was awake. I wanted to slip out unnoticed, maybe call a cab…did they have cabs on this tiny island? The car I’d leased at the ferry dock was at the bottom of the ravine. People used golf carts here to get around. I remembered seeing them when I disembarked.

Scanning the floor, I searched for my shoes. They poked out from under the bed, and I crawled across the dark Persian rug ignoring the protest of my sore muscles. My purse lay on the chair by the door, and I slung it over my shoulder on my way out. The door, heavy like the front ones, creaked when I pulled it.

The very first step I took out of the room was onto a squeaky floorboard. I cringed and froze. Not hearing anyone, I stole out into the hallway. I wasn’t on the third floor. I could tell from the view of the front door over the railing. A long black chain, dusted with fine spider web filaments, held a wrought iron candle chandelier. I peered through the metal scrollwork at the floor below. Not seeing anyone, I started down the stairs with my back against the wall as I tried to stay out of sight of the hallway.

I wasn’t sure who else lived here. With Mrs. Tuttle outside reaming someone out, I had a good chance at making my escape unnoticed if no one sneaked up on me.

A picture frame snagged my shoulder, and I flailed as I tried to keep it from crashing down the wood steps. Holding it in my hands, I frowned. Faded sepia colors displayed a grisly scene of two men flanking a gutted deer. Hanging by its rear legs on a post, the cavernous carcass dwarfed the men standing next to it. My lip curled with disgust, and I turned to rehang the photo only to find similar scenes trailing down the wall. Black and white photos, faded with time; their subjects wearing pith helmets and hunting clothes straight out of a Victorian era safari. Men and boys, even some women, stood dominion over bear and larger animals claiming victory with a foot on the prone carcasses.

“What is this place?”

I stepped back from the wall, craned my neck to see the photographs. There must have been two or three dozen. None taken past the 1920s. Maybe they’d just run out of wall for the macabre display. A shudder rattled up my spine.

Below me and to the left, in a hall leading away from the foyer, a door opened and light splashed across the dark wood floor. Mrs. Tuttle was coming back in, her voice echoing along the hollow hallway.

I crept down the rest of the stairs stopping to press against the frayed tapestry wallpaper lining the area by the hall tree. A torn strip scratched at my neck, and I jumped.

“Get a grip, Rose,” I whispered and rolled my eyes despite my nerves ticking into high gear.

Peering at the hall opposite the foyer, Mrs. Tuttle’s voice faded, and I used the opportunity to slip into the hall. The swinging door opened up into a huge kitchen of granite and glass. A rough-hewn, weathered table the size of a barn door took up the center of the room. Skirting it, I reached for the door leading outside, peeking out the bubble-glass windows before turning the handle. It squeaked, and I gritted my teeth.

Had these people never heard of oiling hinges?

Once on the porch, I slowed, no longer feeling the urge to run. Sunlight angled through the thick spires of dark green pine trees that hovered and swayed over the roof. They cast long shadows which made the walls of the house cold beneath my hands as I took the steps leading down to the driveway. Cracked, with chips missing, the disrepair didn’t take away from the beauty of their color. River rocks with hues of the ocean led down to the driveway. Rose and lavender bushes lined the flower beds, their colors fading with the August chill. Nestled between the plants, strange sculptures peered through pitted marble eyes. Trolls with jutting noses and bat-winged gargoyles gnashed their pointed teeth as I wandered past.

Shaking my head, I stayed off the pavement and skirted the edge of the woods along the driveway. I scurried towards the crash site hoping to find my mahogany box and suitcase still in the car.